CROONERS JAZZ: Swing Harvest with BluLuna

BluLuna was formed by four veteran musicians out of their love for myriad genres of the jazz idiom without restraining themselves to one specific branch of the music. By focusing on familiar melodic compositions, this bias-free approach has allowed them to concentrate on playing very fresh and sparkling ideas honoring the wide range of America’s 1st original sonic art. The result is a startlingly warm delivery of a strong yet hyper-sensitive mélange of enchanting moments.

Dean Magraw: Guitar

Rick Carlson: Piano

Steve Pikal: Bass

Jay Epstein: Drums

Dean Magraw studied at the University of Minnesota and Berklee College of Music in Boston. He spent five years in Beantown, playing professionally and teaching. After returning to his hometown St. Paul, he’s had a life of music – playing, composing, arranging, producing, & recording. Magraw’s music is impossible to pigeonhole. For 15 years, he was half of a duo with mandolinist Peter Ostroushko. He has collaborated with Masahiro Nitta, who plays the traditional Japanese shamisen; with Nigel Kennedy, Britain’s bad boy of the classical violin; with Nirmala Rajasekar, South Indian vocalist and player of the vina; with the singers Bruce Henry, Ruth MacKenzie, and Claudia Schmidt; with the Irish supergroup Altan. As a jazz cat, he leads his own trio, performs with Chris Bates & Jay Epstein as Red Planet since 2002, and more recently has formed BluLuna.